The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Chagrin coach Iammarino eyes history
When his whistle pierced the locker room in the morning of the first day of August, Coach Mark Iammarino embarked on his 25th season as head football coach at Chagrin Falls High School.
When he started his career, he was exchanging VHS tapes with opposing coaches before games.
Iammarino has come a long way since then, and with one more victory, he will cement
himself as the all-time winningest football coach in Chagrin Falls High School history supplanting John Piai. However, he realizes the importance that others have played in his coaching achievements.
“When I think of that (the record), I think of John Paia and Lenny May,” he said. “Obviously, it gives me great pride to be recognized with coaches like that. It is an honor.”
Chagrin Falls Athletic Director Charlie Barch, who has worked with coach Iammarino for 10 years, recognizes what it has taken to get to the threshold of this milestone.
“To me, it is the dedication to Chagrin Falls, the community and the students,” said Barch. There have been many assistant coaches who have come and gone during the quarter century of Iammarino has been in charge. But current offensive line coach and linebackers coach John Kramer was there at the beginning and remembers the struggles.
“Mark has the respect of the entire coaching staff,” Kramer said. “He does things the right way and keeps high school football in the proper perspective. It could not happen to a better guy.”
So there Iammarino will be, in Streetsboro on Aug. 30, with his visor adorned with the GS sticker in honor of longtime friend and coach Gerry Steuber who passed away in January, 2018, his wife and sister in the stands as always, ready to get another season underway. No matter how long he coaches, Iammarino will know that he has been successful, not by wins or losses, but through a much more meaningful legacy.
“(To be) somebody that players realized was truly there for them and believable in what he said. That you can trust him,” Iammarino said. “That he really had the best interest of that player and somebody who wanted to make their four-year high school football experience something
special.”
Where it all started for Iammarino is hardly a stones throw from the beauty and charm of Chagrin Falls
Friday Night lights (Texas style)
After graduating from Miami University, he moved to Texas with a friend and landed a teaching job.
He started coaching in a middle school and worked his way up to a varsity assistant at Duncanville High School.
“We played in front of 10 to 15 thousand fans each Friday and actually played playoff games in Texas Stadium. It was here that I got the bug to coach,” Iammarino said.
The pull to be near family had the 1979 Mayfield High School graduate returning to northeast Ohio in 1988.
Iammarino began teaching at Solon High School where his old high school coach, Byron Morgan, was leading the program and brought him on as an assistant — a position he held for seven years before accepting the Chagrin Falls head coaching job.
The early years at Chagrin
When it comes to character building, look no further than Iammarino’s first season at Chagrin.
He was new to the district, with a new job, he and his wife had a 1-yearold and she was pregnant with their second — and he got pneumonia.
He inherited a program that was winless the previous season, and his team proceeded to lose their first eight games.
Those first two seasons, while not successful as each team went 2-8, laid the groundwork for what was to come. Chagrin Falls captured their first of three consecutive CVC titles under Iammarino in 1999.
Basketball on grass
Upon reflection after the 2007 season and realizing that to beat the teams that were bigger or more physical, the Tigers had to change their philosophy. Based on the makeup of the team and personnel, Iammarino decided that speed and a spread offense were going to be the key components to the team’s success. It worked.
The team’s record during the years from 2008 to 2013 was 69-13 with five consecutive conference championships and two state title game appearances.
The high of the wins, conference titles and accolades are big but for Iammarino the opportunity to coach his two sons, Tommy and Matt, topped everything.
“To me it was the greatest thing in the world. We shared so much. My wife and daughter (Emma) were so actively involved too,” said Iammarino.
CVC brothers
When you coach for this long, it is difficult not to develop a friendship with some coaches.
Perry coach Mark Rosati who has known Iammarino
for more than 50 years, and has battled him on the gridiron for over three decades, has nothing but high praise.
“He has one of the most innovative minds in high school football,” said Rosati. “He is always scheming his offenses and is impressive. Mark is one of the best.”
Current Chagrin Valley Conference Commissioner Don Lewis, who also worked the sidelines on the training staff during Chagrin Falls football games years ago, said Iammarino’s impact goes beyond the gridiron.
“Mark is a class act,” said Lewis. “He treats the last player on the team as if they were the star player. He is going to have a lasting impact on the community and school.”
Every bit of excitement that makes up game day — from the band and Tigers fans, to the drama that unfolds on the field — it all still remains for Iammarino after 267 games as a head coach.
But he’s also a school counselor at Chagrin, and that has caused a slight shift from his early years. It’s the enjoyment he receives from one-on-one individual interaction with the kids.
“I think the thing that drives you and motivates you is taking a group of players and turning them into a team,” Iammarino said. “Taking individuals with varied skill sets, whatever it may be for that year, and turning them into a product that you and the community can be proud of.”